U.S. Air War Soars in ‘Post-Combat’ Iraq

Combat operations are officially over in Iraq. But don’t tell the U.S. Air Force, which is still flying tens of thousands of missions over Iraq.

American pilots have been continously operating in the Iraqi skies since the 1990 Gulf War. And they’re likely to fly there for years to come; while Iraqi ground troops have steadily taken a bigger and bigger role in the country’s security, its air force is still lagging far behind. As of this spring, the active fleet consisted of only 36 transport, 19 surveillance, and three attack planes. The Iraqi Air Force academy opened its doors just last week. “Let us be frank, we don’t have the combat or jet fighters or intercepting planes or air defense systems,” Iraqi Air Force commander Staff Lt. Gen. Anwer Hamad Amen Ahmed told the AP in April. “We are still far from an air force’s full potential. We will need the U.S. long after 2011.”

Through the first seven months of 2010, according to statisitics supplied by the U.S. Air Force, American pilots flew 4,620 “close air support” missions over ground troops in combat. The airmen only fired their weapons only 10 of those flights — compared to 1650 such sorties in 2007. But the number of surveillance flights has soared: with 6,200 sorties through July 31st, American planes could surpass 2007’s total by 40 percent or more. In addition, U.S. aircraft ferried 470,000 passengers, and hauled 52,700 tons of cargo.

While American air operations in Iraq show little sign of letting up, the U.S. air war over Afghanistan continues to escalate, military statistics indicate. Last month, U.S. pilots went on 3,200 “close air support” sorties over Afghanistan, about 30 percent more than August, 2009’s total. Those airmen dropped bombs or fired weapons on 500 different missions, a 25 percent increase from last year.